Present: The Hon. Mr. A, G. Lascelles, Acting Chief Justice, Mr.
Justice Middleton, and Mr. Justice Wood Renton.

GUNERATNE v. APPUHAMI.

D. C., Kurunegala, 1,829.

Statute-Retrospective application-Statute enacting procedure-Pending actions-Absence of administration-Matter of substance-Civil Procedure Code, s. 547-Ordinance No. 12 of 1904, s. 2.

Retrospective effect should not be given to a statute dealing with matters other than procedure, unless it is made retrospective by express enactment or by necessary intendment.

The administration of an intestate estate is not a mere matter of form or procedure, but is a matter of substance.

Judgment of the Privy Council in Ponnamma v. Arumogam (8 N. L. R. 223) followed.

Section 2 of Ordinance No. 12 of 1904, which enacts that " no action for the recovery of, or involving proof of title to, any property, movable or immovable, belonging to or included in the estate or effects of any person who died intestate before the commencement of this Ordinance, shall be defeated, nor shall the title to such property claimed through such person be deemed invalid, by reason only that letters of administrat